4CU 004 : Four Corners Unit Balloon Rally (2007)

[azflycaster]

The California group left the site this morning and headed West. The rest of us are going out to a Mexican Resturant tonight. Sadly the fiesta is almost over for us. We have met some old friendsand made some new ones as well. A great Rally!!!!!

[TIMEMACHINE]

Well, there we were enjoying the final moments of a great week long adventure with many of our old and new Airstream friends.....

We got some great pictures of this mornings Balloon Fiesta activitiies, including a shot of BamCamper, alias Wanda, holding down a balloon prior to launch.

Overall, a great experience, thanks to Ken J and the whole group, twenty-one Airstreams by my count.

Five of us from California set off for home this morning, first scheduled stop on the return agenda being Meteor Crater RV Park, just west of Winslow, AZ. Everthing was going great until Big Yellow (our TV) made a rather loud noise resembling an explosion and wiffed out an even more ominous cloud of black smoke witnessed by the famous rally greeter, kevbo, following a few 100 feet behind on I-40 west. Turbo boost now gone, it appeared we lost either the turbo or one of the associated hoses.

Thanks to our traveling friends, Kevbo10 and BamCamper, str8strm and Babeebloos, we safely pulled the limping rig into the Dancing Eagle Casino Truck Stop parking lot. We called AAA, the Ford dealer in Grants, the Koa in Grants, and in about 2 hours, I was getting a ride back to the KOA from the Ford Dealer (looks as though it was a turbo hose, parts will be in tomorrow around 1PM) to settle down for a peaceful evening in our silver home.

Our final picture is that of our new TV, OK, maybe it isn't ours, but we did get a ride in it on our way to Grants, New Mexico.

A big thank you for our AS friends, for helping and even offering to stay with us until we were back on the road, great people. Also a thank you to my brother Uwe, who called and offerd to help in any way he could, all the way from Orange California.

And for those who have had issues with AAA in the past, thanks to AAA and Route 66 Towing, I can say that our experience today reflected prompt and professional service deserving of an "A" grade. (The driver even disconnected my driveshaft to make sure the transmission wasn't damaged during the tow) At no time was there even a hint of anything other than "we can do it and we will do it now".

To our traveling friends, watch us catch you in Needles on Wednesday morning!

Time

[codybear]

Hi All,

Wonderful pix of the event!!!..Time, glad all went well w/the help!

[Goin camping]

What a great time you all must have had. I wish we could have gone.

Time, Give a call if you need anything.

[uwe]

Time, hope all is going well with your repair of big yellow. Maybe this is the end of your troubles with this truck's fuel system. I do know that right now, or for the next week, I would not want to be the one that has to talk to you or Cat at Ford corporate. I know that I'd be severely p.o'd by now. Anyways, all is well that ends well...be safe!

[Motoman]

Gail and I haven't had time to sort through and post any of our pictures but we did want to report the Balloon Fiesta's recognition of the Four Corners Unit attendance at the event and FCU's Greeter KevBo.

[TIMEMACHINE]

Originally Posted by uwe

Time, hope all is going well with your repair of big yellow. . I do know that right now, or for the next week, I would not want to be the one that has to talk to you or Cat at Ford corporate. I know that I'd be severely p.o'd by now. !

Uwe,

Thanks for the support, but, maybe yellow wasn't the right choice of color? Just like some of the new Airstreams, nothing is perfect, we'll get'r'fixed and keep motoring down the road, cause life is good when your breathing, and even better when you have friends with severe social deficencies who can share events like the Balloon Fiesta.

I keep looking for posts with pictures of the Fiesta by all the attendees, my guess that at least 10,000 pictures were taken by the Airstream group. Come on you guys....lets see some more pics, especially the ones with silver in the frame.

Time

[Ken J]

What happens at Balloon Fiesta rally, stays at Baloon Fiesta rally - this is our adopted motto - and several events (do you like purple?)......

The weekend was just perfect - we all arrived (20 trailers) to the site at the same time - what a site going down the freeway - got parked with no problem - had generally great weather and this morning we were treated to a perfect day with great winds - the balloons were right over us, landing next to us (thought they were going to hit us) - just a great way to end the rally.

Anyway my very heartfelt and personal thank you to all who attended - we had an incredible time, made lots of new GREAT friends saw some great balloon shows, fireworks, Marshall Tucker Band ( too bad he can't sing anymore) and GREAT food!

I think everyone agreed this needs to be an annual event - so we will do that - plan on same time/same place next year - I will do a rally notice in Feb of 08 so watch for that.

For those that attended - thanks a bunch - for those who did not, join us next year.

Ken J.

[Airstream25]

A lesser known portion of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (other than the 750 hot air balloons) is the America's Challenge gas balloon race. Last year the winner flew from here all the way to Florida over the period of several days.

Following is a picture of the inflation, and yes some pilots, especially the Europeans still use hydrogen like this yellow balloon from Austria.

Note the numerous sand bags attached for ballast. This will be dropped as required to maintain altitude.

Here is the first balloon, (last year's winner) on the launch platform.

You can trace the race in real time at;
America's Challenge Gas Tracking

The leader is already north of I-70 in Colorado over 300 miles away.
Remember that the pilots will be taking turns sleeping in the open wicker basket at perhaps 15,000' and maybe around zero degrees.
Click on the pictures for a larger image.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Airstream25

You can trace the race in real time at;
America's Challenge Gas Tracking

The leader is already north of I-70 in Colorado over 300 miles away.

Bummer! They are too far south & west to be seen from here...those are pretty cool too! Probably can't fly directly over Denver due to the airport...

Shari

[Airstream25]

Shari,
Possibly AC-4 could pass over Denver. As they gain altitude with the sun warming the gas they will be getting into the jet stream and picking up speed and a more easterly course.

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Bummer! They are too far south & west to be seen from here...those are pretty cool too! Probably can't fly directly over Denver due to the airport...

Shari

[InsideOut]

I'll keep an eye out for it! Timing should be about right on my way home from work...

Shari

[hookedonclassic]

WOW. What an event and weekend of camping with (new) friends for us. We enjoyed it so much and an outstanding job by Ken on the reservations. The wakeup call Monday and Tuesday were just outstanding. We really saw the Albuquerque "Box" work it's wonder this morning. So many balloons overhead the Airstreams this morning.
We made it east 400 miles today to Shamrock, Texas. Another 400 tomorrow, 250 on Thursday to Branson. Thanks everyone for a great time. Hope to see you again. Rich & Lindsey

[azflycaster]

What a great rally! We left this morning after a few balloons landed right in the middle of our camping area. We pulled into our driveway at 6:00 PM safe and sound. It was great to see some of our old friends again and make some new ones too! Great rallies is what the 4CU is all about.

Let's do it again!

[Condoluminum]

Made it home this evening from Kingman after 1,060 miles of driving from ABQ beginning at 10:30 yesterday... Sorry to hear about Time Machine and his Yellow Turbo Soot Blaster, but glad AAA came through with tow to Grant's.. We heard from Ron and Deb that tow was on its way.. We honked as we rolled past Meteor Campgrounds on way to Kingman, as we saw silver flashes from high-speed contingent of California group already checked in. Hundreds of pictures still on memory cards for both cameras, and no time after parking and unpacking and unwinding from the drive.. Will try to upload some tomorrow..

Again, out thanks to Ken and 4CU for setting up and hosting the event, and hope next year's event is larger and even more fun. The site was incredible, and the event is just hard to describe even with photographs...

John and Dianne McG

[SilverToy]

Amen to that Richard!!!!!

Truly a great group of poeple, and a terrific organization!!!

Long live the 4CU!!!!

Glad to hear that all went well, and that there is a strong sentiment for another rally next year.... Always a great sign!

All the best to all my 4CU Friends!

Axel
SilverToy

[Ken J]

Axel

Sorry you could not be there - we really all had a great time.

Ken

[TIMEMACHINE]

Although the Fiesta is over for the Rally group, the California contingent is still in party mode while on its way home.

The caravan (minus Timemachine) stopped at Meteor Crater and enjoyed additional overbeveraging prior to Tuesday's visit to the crater. Str8strm, Kevbo10, Bamcamper and Babeebloos then moved on to the Colorado River in Needles, where rumor has it, that they continued the "shot glass testing" of Kevbo's ultra special, crystal bottle of Patron.

As for us, Corley Ford in grants replaced Big Yellow's intercooler (the side blew off, no, it wasn't the hose) and we pulled out of the KOA last night and skipped over to Railside Ranch in Williams.

We will be catching up with our California group this morning in Needles.

So, the Balloon Fiesta is still going strong for some of us...it aint over yet.

Time

[azflycaster]

If you happen to leave a little early, you might have missed things like:
A birthday party! & Balloons landing next to us!
We had to ssay goodbye to our friends.
Mike and Tracy - We will see you at the 4CU New Years party. Hope the fix to your generator was a simple one. Thanks again for the great DVD Tracy!

Finally the long trip home with a great view from my mirror!

[azflycaster]

Here are a few pictures with Airstreams and Balloons!